Cheap, delicious chicken liver meals

A tub of chicken livers can yield delicious, quick, and simple meals for pennies.

photos by Faith Bowman

A tub of chicken livers sitting in the poultry department may look like a hot mess, but it's a smart investment. While beef livers can be hard for kids and adults to deal with, chicken livers are small and cook quickly with little fuss. They are the humblest fancy food on the market. You can't really mess them up.

One easy way to prepare chicken livers is a chopped recipe that yields a sort of pate. Take half a tub of chicken livers and rinse. Pat dry with paper towels, and then spread on a chopping board. Quickly chop the livers into small chunks and bits. Put this into a bowl, seasoned with salt and pepper, and splash with pot wine or sherry. Set aside. Put two tablespoons of unsalted butter into a skillet and melt over medium heat. Slice up 2 shallots and add to butter. At this point tarragon and coriander can be added, to your taste. Add chicken livers when shallots are cooked. Stir, then cover. Cook for 5 minutes, then stir again. Let this mixture bubble until livers are cooked. Approximately ten minutes.

Put the cooked livers into a bowl and mash with the tines of a for, or with a potato masher. You don't want a pate, just for it to be spreadable. Taste, then season if necessary. Stop tasting, or you won't have anything left. Spread 4 pieces of toast with creamy horseradish and spread chopped liver on top. In the photo above, the liver is on wilted spinach, which is also delicious, and served with a mixture of apples, grapes, and colby jack cheese. a tasty snack or light dinner.

An absolutely knockout comfort food is fried chicken livers. The crisp coating gives way to a smooth, creamy enter and the taste is indescribable. And it is crazy easy to have a bowlful of tummy filling food in minutes. Rinse off a cupful of chicken livers and pat dry. Drop into a paper bag with a cup of all-purpose flour seasoned with salt and pepper, shake the bag to coat the livers. Set aside. Heat 4 tablespoons vegetable oil in a skillet over medium high heat. When you can instantly brown a bread cube, place the livers in the pan and brown on each side. Eat one right away so that you won't eat them all. Fry as many as you can handle and drain any excess oil on paper towels.

This can be served over rice (guyanese parboiled rice cooks perfectly in 20 minutes with no fuss), you can add greens, you can serve it over potatoes with gravy, drop the chicken livers into a salad instead of chicken, serve on a bed of pureed turning- or just eat them hot, salty and alone.

Chicken livers are usually less than two dollars and you get so much pleasure out of them that it tastes like you spent millions.